"Each new year brings hope and meaning..." - Paper Route, "Sing You to Sleep"

Happy New Year! 2012 has been great so far here in Chicago. We kicked off the new year with a party at our friend Kevin's apartment. He had the whole church over, which isn't that large of a feat when the whole church is only, like, 25 people.

Since we're pretty far from the heart of the city, driving isn't a terrible ordeal and it's how we usually get around when we're both going to the same place (Cary Anne isn't as keen about driving the Vespa around when the wind chill is in the teens as I am). But one of the great things about New Year's in Chicago is that the trains and buses are free from the evening of the 31st through early morning on the 1st in an attempt to discourage drunk driving (though I guess it could have a negative back lash because if a drunk driver happens to hit a bus it will most likely be filled with more people than normal). So we decided to take the L down to the party, but even without riding the Vespa, we still had to endure the chill of standing on an elevated platform waiting for our ride. Luckily, most stops have heat lamps, which Cary Anne thoroughly enjoys sunning under.


The party was everything you'd expect at a New Year's party for sensible 20-somethings, half of which are married. While there was no drunken debauchery, I was happy to see things were a bit more lively than all of us sitting around a table enjoying a rousing game of "Apples to Apples" (Actually, I think that's how Cary Anne and I spent New Year's last year...). As expected, there was plenty of junk food, alcohol, and loud conversation, and in the end, we actually did play a game, but after about 40 minutes it just broke down into a living room full of people laughing and yelling at each other. And at midnight, we all cheered and drank as Coldplay played on TV, and my new friend Nate made inappropriate resolutions like, "Here's to finally tellin' 'em what I did with Natalie Holloway's body in 2012!" A good night, overall.

The start of the new year also brought with it the start of my first class at Improv Olympic. Originally, we weren't sure how long it would take for us to be financially stable enough for me to start taking classes, but thanks to God's grace and some unexpected generosity, things fell into place rather quickly. So far, I've only had one class, but it was a lot fun, and I'm already getting to know some of my very nice and funny classmates. I think I will really enjoy spending 3 hours a week dedicated to improv. Also, Cary Anne recently got hooked up with a theater company through a friend so it looks like she'll be doing some back stage work over the coming weekends. Since CA hasn't done any work on a show since her last semester at Cumberland in the spring of 2010, you can imagine how excited she is.

During our first small group of 2012, our leaders, Rich and Dori, told us to think back to where we were at the start of 2011, both physically and emotionally. Then, they asked us to examine how we've changed over the course of the last 12 months, and ultimately asked us to boil our entire 2011 to a single word. For me, the word that came to mind for CA and I was "longing." Longing for better jobs. Longing to leave Lexington. Longing to pursue our passions. It's so remarkable to think about how God has answered nearly all of our longings in one way or another in such a short time. We can't wait to see how He moves over the next 12 months.